RAPAPORT... The past year has seen a number of changes in management-level
employees within the diamond industry. Here’s a breakdown of the new faces and
departures for 2017:

Alrosa CEO Andrey Zharkov stepped down to be
succeeded by former Sberbank senior vice president Sergey Ivanov.

Blue Nile replaced former CEO Harvey Kanter with
James Goldberger, former president and chief digital officer of Target.

Patrick Evans (pictured, left) resigned as Mountain Province Diamonds CEO, with David Whittle taking over as interim CEO. Evans was subsequently named CEO of Dominion Diamond Mines, following the departure of Brendan Bell earlier in the year.

The Dubai Diamond Exchange announced Peter Meeus would
leave his role as chairman of the bourse in January 2018. Ahmed Bin Sulayem (below),
chairman of the Dubai Multi Commodities Centre (DMCC), will take over.

Jewelers of America elected John Henne, president of
Henne Jewelers, as its new chairman.

Tiffany Stevens, former chief operating officer at the Sohn
Conference Foundation, became CEO of the Jewelers Vigilance Committee, as
Cecilia Gardner left the position.

The World Diamond Council appointed Stéphane Fischler, president of the Antwerp World Diamond Centre (AWDC), as president, as Andrey Polyakov departed.

David Block, deputy CEO and chief operating officer of Sarine
Technologies, took over from Uzi Levami as the company’s CEO. Signet Jewelers hired Virginia Drosos (left), former Assurex Health CEO and president of Global Beauty Care at Procter & Gamble, as CEO on the heels of Mark Light’s retirement. The jeweler also made appointments to strengthen its digital offering — an area in which the retailer had been caught
lacking during the 2016 holiday season. Bryan Morgan, vice president of
supply-chain management and repair, was promoted to COO, replacing Ed Hrabak.
Sebastian Hobbs, UK managing director, became president and chief customer
officer, a new position Signet created to improve the customer experience.
Brian Tilzer, chief digital officer at CVS Health, was appointed to Signet’s board.
Additionally, Signet announced the retirement of Clark
McEwen, vice president of diamond sourcing, and Stuart Lee, chief merchandising
officer.

Frank Everett (right), director of jewelry sales at Sotheby’s,left the auction houseto take on the position of US sales president at Graff Diamonds. He returned to Sotheby's a month later as senior vice president and sales director for its luxury division.